General Chat

Raphael Ravenscroft one of the most talented musicians in the world and a real regular guy has died. He will be sorely missed.

http://goo.gl/rma80p

<3

Sounds as good today as it did when first released.

Fantastic sound...my brother was a great fan of his
and wanted to play just like him.

Just been reading that he didn't like the recording because it was out of tune.....!

He said in an interview that the sax he was "playing was out of tune". A saxaphone cannot be out of tune in the same way as a piano or guitar because all the keys are fixed in place.

"Tuning" is carried out by adjusting the mouthpiece in or out and playing the note - an alto Eb sax as used in Baker Street will tune to C. It is not quite as easy as that though 'cos it also depends on the reed and quality of the reed, the weather and the way the player plays his sax. Just like many instruments then the player will need some time to set up his horn before the gig.

In the case of Baker Street though Raphael had no time for this. He had been brought in at the last minute to do the job and had spent a lot of time traveling to the studio. So he arrived and had to start to play without much delay. As a freelance on £ 27/day he had very little control, just do as you are told. Hence he played flat though the producer eliminated most of that by speeding up the part in the mix thus producing the energy of the original riff. Raphael had long gone when this was done.

Now here is the rub. If you play Baker Street on an alto sax perfectly tuned ( I use pan pipes but you can get expensive tuning gadgets ) it sounds terrible, dead and flat with none of the raspy tonality of the original recording. Baker Street is just one of those things, nobody expected much of it let alone a massive hit and not much energy was put into it it just came out right.

Raphael rarely mentioned that when doing a reprise ( not something he was keen on he preferred the new ) he always used slightly flat tuning and played with brio.

Oh yeah if you really want to cause aggravation in the neighborhood get a beginner to attempt Baker Street on a cheap alto sax. again and again. Fur elise is not in it. ;-) Madness.